I'm Just Here for the Bird: La Sagra's Flycatcher in Florida

I had to chase this bird. Really, I had no choice. The La Sagra's Flycatcher was present for the entire month I was in Florida last March, in Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park. I should have stopped there on my way to The Dry Tortugas, but figured it had been there so long that It would still be there when I returned in April. I spent parts of two days from April 24 to 25 walking a hot and dusty nature trial and later learned it had been last seen around April 21. The trip wasn't for naught, as I did see a Great Cormorant amongst the 8 species I counted down in south Florida on that trip, but I really wanted the La Sagra's for the year.

This year, though I am not going out of my way to chase birds, I was in Florida for work and a La Sagra's had returned to nearly the same place, just up the coast to Green Cay Nature Preserve, where I had seen a Least Bittern in 2012. I only had to drive about 3 hours from Tampa Bay to find the bird and it was all over in a matter of minutes. I had read that it had been recently seen in the parking lot, so I walked around before entering it and was hearing it call almost immediately, but couldn't locate it. A couple from up north was also looking for it and we had a quick check at the visitors center to see where they recommended we look. "Just go back to the parking lot and behind the storage buildings," we were told.

Off we went and very quickly spotted two other birders back there who were also looking for it. I played its call and within minutes it appeared and popped around in a tree for about 10 minutes while we all took photos. Easy Peasy. After the success of finding the targeted bird we posed for a photo and then walked the boardwalk seeing what else was there. One of the birders was a fellow from Mississauga, Ron Orenstien. He birds around the world and has a Life List over 4500 species, over 40 years in the field. As we walked, we found two Sora and a Purple Galinule.

After leaving I went in search of, and found both Monk and Nanday Parakeets. The Monk's I didn't have a photo of and the Nanday's I realized after photographing them and then checking my blog from April were actually the once uncountable Black-hooded Parakeets. A bonus that, for what it's worth in the grand scheme if things, upped my 2012 Big Year total to 596. As a bonus, I also found an Orange-winged Parrot high atop a utility pole, enjoying the company of a plastic owl. I stopped, thinking it might be a real owl, then hoping the live bird was a White-winged Parakeet, which would have been another ABA Lifer. The Orange-winged Parrot is not on the ABA list, but is now on my Life List.